In safety terms LTIFR means Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate which measures the number of lost-time injuries per million hours worked during a single financial year. It is not in the interest of any company or organisation to expose staff to health and safety risks. We run a safety drive that focusses on educating, identifying and where needed, enforcing safety as a way of life. We aim to show advantages of safety, not just at work, but also at home which is how we’ve managed this score. 

4 measures we implement to achieve this: 

• Develop a safety culture, ensuring that safety is one of the company's top priorities.
• Ensure employees fully understand the requirement to adhere to safe work practices through education and awareness promotion.
• Conduct continuous improvement programmes to identify, eliminate and mitigate potential hazards in the workplace.  
• Provide employees with appropriate PPE (personal protective equipment).and with rules regarding the safe use thereof.
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Amongst the 20 CSI approved projects that Woodlands Dairy supported, 6 are nutritional projects.  These projects feed underprivileged children and unemployed, vulnerable adults. Woodlands Dairy donated the equivalent value of 25 594 litres of milk to these 6 nutritional projects during 2022.

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In July 2022 Woodlands Dairy received an “Excellence in Sustainability” award from CHEP. CHEP is the global leader in sustainably moving goods, optimizing over 300 000 supply chains throughout the world. 

Woodlands Dairy received this award as acknowledgment of their contribution to protecting the environment and creating a regenerative supply chain by using CHEP pallets.

CHEP had a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) done on their plastic CHEP pallets vs a white wooden equivalent by a third party.

By Woodlands Dairy using CHEP’s share and reuse pooling services, together with CHEP during the period July 2020 – June 2021 together they achieved:

Saving wooden resources: 1 570 372 dm³ 

Diminishing CO₂ emissions by: 408 049kg

Reducing waste by: 354 467kg

Because this is an ongoing service between Woodlands Dairy and CHEP, which is how we address UN Goal 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production and UN Goal 13 – Climate action, this amount will already be compounded. We eagerly await our new statistics.

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At Woodlands Dairy our longer term goal is to reduce GHG emissions by 10% by 2025 (2021 base year). Our goal for 2022 was not accomplished because there was increased energy usage at the plant and a reduced milk intake. Over the last few years Woodlands Dairy has invested in alternate energy sources which have significantly less environmental impact than fossil fuel resources. Biomass boilers were commissioned, the last one in 2023, biogas steam generation has been operation since 2017 and Solar PV has been in production since 2021. These energy sources are exempt from CO2e emissions, leading the way to the objective to be carbon neutral in the future.

Energy Management – with goals according to ISO 50 001  - Using 2021 as base year and applying regression analysis and doing forecasting energy usage for 2022, the achievements had various results. The achievements for 2022 are the percentage savings per sources of energy. Target is to reduce by % amount listed. Results we are proud of is that we used 48 462 L less Diesel and 69 779 m3 more Biogas (which is great).

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0,8% less water used = 4 583 180 L Water Usage

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A water recycling plant was commissioned in March 2017. The recycling plant

can treat up to two million litres of effluent water (excluding sewerage) per day.

A sequence of processes is applied to clear and treat the water up to potable

water standard.

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For the past two years around 40% of total water used in the production facility

was recycled water. The results of recycled water utilisation are the reduced

demand for municipal water and availing water to the community for use.

The graph indicated the reduced demand from municipal water from 2016

onwards, as well as the slight increase of recycled water over time.

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57,5% achieved = 203 000 000L

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Creative waste management strategies can play a crucial role in helping cities and communities reduce their waste-footprint and their environmental impact.

Packaging waste is part of the manufacturing process at Woodlands Dairy and it is of utmost importance for the company to handle the discarding thereof in a responsible manner. In 2020 the company recycled 651 tons and in 2021, 837 tons, whilst in 2022 a total of 1 626 tons of waste was recycled via The Waste Trade Company.

For 2022 we recycled 98% of our total waste, whilst our waste to landfill amounted to only 2% of total waste.

Besides our packaging waste we have implemented various recycling stations throughout the Humansdorp plant with colour coded bins for different types of waste. These colour coded waste bins are in place to ensure that we separate waste properly to allow maximum recycling.

At the plant we have also installed recycled outdoor furniture which was manufactured by Infinite industries, using 100% recycled and recyclable materials. This furniture emphasizes our environmental core value to reduce waste by recycling and re-purposing waste materials.

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To ensure good food safety and the high quality of our products we have laboratories at the Humansdorp plant. These laboratories do constant tests on our raw milk, products as they are coming off the production line and testing when we keep products to check their quality after production. These laboratories are also involved in New Product Development. During all of this - Biowaste is generated. Our objective is to send zero hazardous waste to landfill. We are pleased to report that during 2022, 23 256 kg of biowaste was generated and all of it was recycled successfully with the assistance of the correct service provider. This is how we align to the UN Goal 11 – Sustainable Cities and communities.
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E-waste is described as: Electronic products that are unwanted, not working, and nearing or at the end of their “useful life.” Computers, televisions, VCRs, stereos, copiers, and fax machines are everyday electronic products. The danger with throwing E-waste in a bin where it ends up in a landfill site is that toxic chemicals naturally leach out from the metals in the unit into the soil where it can contaminate ground water. 

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At Woodlands Dairy we believe that it’s our responsibility to recycle any electronic or digital products that are broken or obsolete, so we use a recognised service provider to recycle and dismantle them. In 2022 we recycled 100% of all our E-waste.

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Product Quality and Safety:

Each ISO standard addresses separate scopes and objectives to be monitored and measured. However, all ISO standards require the commitment of leadership to achieve the required objectives and with the required planning on how reach the set objectives. Further does all the ISO standards require support and resources to manage these standards and awareness to be created amongst all staff of all divisions, to be successfully implemented. Efficiencies as applicable per ISO standard is monitored and measured and feedback given to management on the success rates achieved or deficiencies that needs corrective actions to bring about improvement. 

FSSC 22000, ISO 45001, ISO 14001, ISO 5000

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WoodlandsDairy is an enterprise development partner and their business model rests on 3pillars: Environment, Social and Governance.

Our ESG strategy is closely aligned with theUnited Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of inclusive and resilient cities and communities. The Dairy is keen to collaborate with, and support small, local businesses to create jobs, enhance sustainability and contribute to economic growth. Marisa Maccaferri, Marketing Executive at WoodlandsDairy says, “We are a large company with many brands. We manufacture a considerable amount of branded material. Over the years brand identities change and materials become worn or faded and need to be discarded. We contacted theJeffrey’s Bay company – Co-Zee – and gave them some discarded flags, which they then repurposed into colourful, useful retro bags! These bags benefit the community, the environment and the collaboration has supported a local small business. Together, we can make a big difference, for the good of all!’ Read the full story here.